Mexico's staple under threat - Rising prices put tortillas out of reach for the poor

[Herman Munster]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/caribbean/sfl-htortillas11feb11,0,3669196.story?coll=sfla-news-caribbean

Tlaxcala, Mexico · As Mexicans have done for centuries, Mikaela Serrano always counted on the humble tortilla when her resources ran low. But the 60-year-old housewife is now being forced to skip meals, even the most basic dish of a tortilla with salt.

A surge in international corn prices, spurred partly by the growing ethanol industry, has caused huge spikes in the price of corn tortillas, a core ingredient in Mexico's diet and, some would say, the nation's very soul.

With many of the country's poorest and most vulnerable citizens going hungry, the tortilla crisis has been a blow not only to Mexico's stomach but its psyche as well.

The Mexicans are a people created from corn, according to Mayan legend. Now they feel powerless before the whims of a globalized corn market. In the markets of this central Mexican city last week, customers approaching tortilla vendors to price their produce merely shook their heads sadly and walked away.

"The tortilla is our sacred bread," Serrano said. "If the tortilla isn't there, what can we do? There is nothing else after that."

[Beausoir]

1. Correct me if I am wrong please, but I think the Mexican gov't has been cutting back on tortilla

subsidies for quite awhile now.

My friend from Puebla claims she does not eat tortillas...but she is very well travelled and educated.

This is a terrible situation for those who are dependent on tortillas.

I look forward to being better educated on this. It is important to me.

[LeftyMom]

2. Opening the market to US corn will mean the loss of ancient strains of corn.

"Analysts with a free-market bent say consumers will benefit next year when Mexico opens its market to United States corn by removing the last remaining barriers under the North American Free Trade Agreement."

Corn is a windblown crop. The reason US GMO corn wasn't allowed into Mexico is because the ancient and diverse varieties grown there would breed with the handfull of GMO varieties, since corn is a windblown crop even a field miles away can contaminate another, and the ancient strains would be lost forever. People are better off with crops bred for local conditions and with enough varieties that if one is lost to pests or disease there's still most of a crop.

A short term spike in tortilla prices will be nothing compared to the harm this will cause in the long term.